A Blunt Amendment

Occasionally, we get to witness someone running for public office buck his or her party and take the side of reason. John McCain used to be the man ready to run against the grain, until his campaign ran his moderate image into the ground. Now there are very few politicians left willing to break party lines.

That's why it was so refreshing to hear that Mitt Romney, the pseudo frontrunner for the Republican Presidential nomination, came out against the Blunt amendment, which has almost unilateral support from GOP leaders.

Sen. Roy Blunt's legislation is probably one of the biggest examples of overkill in the last decade. After the laughable outrage over Obama's decision that religiously affiliated employers were not exempt from the provision of his healthcare bill that forced businesses to carry contraception coverage in their insurance packages, Republicans have been on the warpath.

Beyond simply undermining Obama's (correct) decision and allowing religiously affiliated employers to deny contraception coverage, the Blunt amendment drinks the whole vat of Kool-aid and allows all employers to implement any type of coverage based on religious beliefs.

Hopefully your employer isn't a Jehovah's Witness, because under this bill it would have every right to refuse coverage for whole blood transfusions during a life-saving operation. If you're one of the 99% of American women who use contraceptives, you should probably make sure your employer wouldn't deny you coverage for it because he or she is a Catholic.

Considering his strong religious background, it's hard to believe the Romney took a stance against this bill. A few hours later, though, he made onlookers say "told ‘ya so" when he "clarified" his position, saying that he actually supported the amendment.

In the course of an hour, Romney demonstrated how to fall directly on your political face and still end up on the wrong end of an issue: pretty much par for the course at this point for Romney.

Had it not been for Sen. Olivia Snowe, the Maine Republican with a conscience, the bill would have cruised through the House of Representatives. Luckily for the U.S., Snowe's ability to break party lines prevented an insane piece of legislation from making it through the pipeline.

Yesterday, the amendment was defeated in the Senate, but the fight will continue. Sen. Blunt has told many people that he is dedicated to continuing the fight against imaginary attacks on religious liberty.

Let's break it down. Your religious rights are not being attacked. You have every right to choose not to use contraception, get a blood transfusion, use diabetes medication, or whatever else your crackpot is against.

Businesses, however, all have to play by the same rules. You don't get to be exempt from the same laws that all other businesses have to deal with just because of your personal beliefs. You might not agree with the Pill, but the person underneath you doesn't share your ideas and doesn't have to.

We know it's an election year, and the GOP needs an issue to rally its base around, but it's about time these "culture warriors" took a hint and shut up about this inane garbage for a little while. We need to continue helping this nation on its road to recovery, and arguing about false issues will only slow it down.